FourFifteen

Every movie, every song, every tv show and play this time of year bends over backwards to tell us the “true meaning” of Christmas. It’s almost like no one thinks anyone else knows that Jesus was born on the first Christmas. (Unless you’re one of “those people” that feel the need to tell everyone that Jesus was “actually born in the spring”!) We all know why we’re celebrating Christmas....or do we? Was there more to this day than just the birth of another good man? Philippians 2:6-8 “ Though He was God , He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up his divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross .” The true miracle of Christmas isn't simply that a virgin had a baby boy. It wasn't the star that led the wise men or the angels that announced His birth to the shepherds. The true ...

If there's one event that is  crucial  to Christianity, it's the  resurrection  of Jesus Christ. And yet, it's common for our culture to dismiss it's reality. At times, the resurrection is claimed to be merely a legend; at others it's called a lie. Even Christians - those of us who are supposed to hold to the Bible as truth - are now backing away from this central tenet of their faith. Listen friends, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then your faith in Him is useless and powerless. Satan knows this truth - and has unleashed a flood of lies to oppose it. The world knows this truth - and does everything it can to get people to doubt it. My question is this:  Do  Christians  understand how important the Resurrection is to their faith? Can you defend the teaching of the resurrection against arguments that it's just a man-made story? How would you respond to someone who claims that we have a blind faith with no evidence supporting it? Is it possibl...

At the risk of giving away the ending, Jesus is no longer dead. For days now, I've been debating how to deal with the topic of the resurrection of Jesus - mainly, trying to decide what to write first: There's the topic of  apologetics ....that is, defending the reality of the resurrection. I could bring up the historic and logical support of Jesus' rising from the dead. I could trot out the arguments of the skeptics and illustrate why they don't hold up to scrutiny. Then, there's the topic of  theology ....that is, explaining why the resurrection is important to believers. I could show how the power of Christianity stems from Jesus' defeat of death itself. I could explain from scripture how it's faith in Jesus  resurrection  - not merely His  death  - that brings salvation. I could also talk about how the  message of the church  should focus on the resurrection. I could illustrate how this was the theme of every major sermon in the book of...

Christianity is united around this one truth - Jesus died to set us free from the power of sin. This is common ground for us; no matter what country we live in, no matter what ethnic group we belong to, or denomination of church we attend. If you've been born-again, then you understand what He did for you on the cross, right? But what happened after He laid His life down? What happened in the three days between the cross and the resurrection? We know that His body was laid in a borrowed tomb...but what happened to His spirit? For centuries now, it's been taught that Jesus went to Hell for three days - suffering as a sinner. Pulpits around the world have preached this. It's been written in book after book. It was even in the "Apostle's Creed" and is still recited around the world. But did He actually go to Hell? And what does it matter anyway? Sheol - What Is It? Throughout the Old Testament, when a person died ( whether they were wicked or righteo...